Maine House Speaker, Mark Eves, to file suit against LePage

Source: Portland Press Herald

Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves will file a civil lawsuit Thursday against Gov. Paul LePage, alleging that the governor used taxpayer money and the power of his office to prevent his hiring at a private school in Fairfield.

The lawsuit, to be filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, has been anticipated ever since the board of directors at Good Will-Hinckley voted to rescind its offer to pay Eves $150,000 a year to become the organization’s next president. Eves said that the board told him before his contract was terminated that LePage threatened to eliminate $530,000 in annual state funding for the school unless it removed him from the job.

Eves and his attorney are expected to make the filing Thursday afternoon.

Eves’ lawsuit against LePage marks the first time since 1975 that a sitting Maine governor has been sued as an individual. A summary of the filing indicated that Eves was suing the governor in his “official, individual and personal capacities.”

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Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2015/07/30/maine-house-speaker-to-file-suit-against-lepage/